Caught in the Storm
by Jack E. Peace
Summary: Aubrey loves storms.


**Disclaimer: **Characters aren't mine. Title comes from the song of the same name by Katharine McPhee from the show _Smash_.

**A/N: **This is probably the most random thing I've ever written. I blame it on the fact that it was storming while I wrote this and I couldn't shake the idea so here it is. Enjoy!

**"Caught in the Storm" **

Aubrey loves storms. When the sky darkens and thunder starts to rumble in the distance, she can be distracted from almost anything. Chloe finds this as out of character for her girlfriend as it is fascinating and she watches Aubrey watching the storms through the open windows. When it rains, they sleep with the windows open and the apartment fills with the sounds of water tapping the sills and thunder rattling the picture frames on the walls. Chloe loves to cuddle close to Aubrey in these moments because the thunder seems to vibrate through her girlfriend as well; her body hums with the electricity of the approaching storm.

When she was little, Chloe would cower from thunder and lightning, hiding under her covers or seeking the reassurance of her father's arms or her mother's hugs. This childish fear stuck with her throughout her teenage years despite her best efforts to convince herself that the weather was nothing to worry about. The summer months were always particularly harrowing, because the heat of the city bred storms and bad weather systems and Chloe spent many days in her room with her headphones on in an attempt to block out the sounds of the weather raging outside. But her first storm with Aubrey changed everything. They'd been at Barden for a little over a month and that summer had been particularly hot and still and one afternoon the air had grown thick with the anticipation that something was waiting just over the horizon. They'd had to run back from their three pm sociology class when the sky had split open and finally broke the two month long drought. Chloe didn't mind the rain; she didn't mind running back to the dorm with Aubrey, her shoes and hair soaked. But she did mind when the lightning flashed and the roar of thunder that followed. She'd drawn her blanket around her shoulders as she sat in the middle of her bed, pretending that her shivers were from her still damp hair. Aubrey had gone to the windows and pulled up the blinds, pushing open the window panes and filling the apartment with the sounds of the thunder and the smells of the wet pavement outside. Chloe had watched the lightning flash across Aubrey's face, her roommate unusually quiet and distracted. It was the first time she'd seen Aubrey just…do nothing. No books, no studying, no agenda, no plans. Just standing by the window and watching the rain. She'd looked feral and beautiful in the flashes of lightning and Chloe had forgotten all about her fear. She'd been captivated by Aubrey, just as Aubrey had been captivated by the weather outside. Both things suddenly seemed wildly unpredictable.

Chloe learned throughout the years that this behavior was ordinary. She came to expect it, the way that she came to learn and expect other things about Aubrey. She loved the way that Aubrey would turn away from her books to watch the rain snake down the window panes. She loved the way that Aubrey would let the weather coax her away from her rigid schedules, how she seemed to revel in the streaks of lightning and deep bass notes of the thunder.

Chloe loved the nighttime storms the best, with all the windows in the apartment open and the smells of the rain mixing with the smell of Aubrey's shampoo and soap as Chloe lay next to her in bed. Sometimes they'd make love to the soundtrack of the storm; sometimes their touches and kisses were slow and lazy, their pace keeping time with the distance rumble of thunder that came long after the lightning. One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Three Mississippi. A kiss, a touch, a shiver, a moan. Sometimes Aubrey's kisses were feverish, stealing Chloe's breath as they kissed and touched as the windows rattled and the lightning danced through the room. When the storm was over and they were sated, Aubrey's hair would be as wild as the tree branches outside the windows and Chloe felt as renewed as she imagined the world outside to be. Washed clean by the rain and sweat and Aubrey's kisses, which still bruised her lips. Ready to start anew.

Once, Chloe had brought up this fascination to Aubrey. They'd still been in Barden, in the early stages of their relationship when the kisses and touches were still shy and unsure, like the beginnings of a shower that no one expects to turn into a storm. "Why do you like storms so much?" Chloe had questioned, sitting on the edge of Aubrey's bed as she watched Aubrey leave her International Relations homework sitting unfinished on her desk.

Aubrey was like an animal in many ways, able to sense the impending storm long before the clouds massed and the air pressure changed. She was better than any weather report, in Chloe's opinion. And much more fun to kiss. "I'm not sure. I've never really thought about it." The storm had descended on Barden's campus before Aubrey had elaborated on her earlier response. "Storms are unpredictable. They can't be controlled. There's so much power there. I always thought it would be nice to be like that."

Chloe hadn't bothered to assure Aubrey that she was like that, in more ways than she realized. She'd just kissed her and felt unpredictable and powerful in her own right.

Years later, long after they've left Barden and have their own apartment in the city, Chloe finds herself standing by the window and watching the rain fall. The ground is soft outside the window, the grass drowning in the quickly forming puddles. This storm has come on fast and violent, the way that only summer storms can do. The lightning and winds and thunder have been incessant and they lost power twenty minutes ago. The heat in the apartment is stifling and the candles they lit to help chase away the blackness do nothing to help.

When Chloe turns from the window, she's not surprised to find Aubrey standing out on the porch, sheltered from the brunt of the wind and rain by the balcony of the apartment above theirs. Her hair twists in the wind, almost as though in possession of an electricity all its own.

The radio on the kitchen counter is listing off the names of counties that should be seeking shelter from the possible tornados that have been spawned from the storm. Their county is on the list; Chloe's childhood fears are returning.

The sky outside looks dark and mean and the lightning slices through the blackness with ferocity. Chloe steps onto the porch and takes Aubrey's hand; she sees that far off look on her girlfriend's face that she's used to by this point, that unpredictably that she sees only in the storms. The wind makes their hair dance.

"We should go inside." Chloe pulls Aubrey back. Or tries. "It's getting really bad."

Aubrey is immobile and silent, almost as though she hasn't heard a word Chloe has said or even noticed her there at all. Chloe wonders where it is that Aubrey goes in these moments, if she finally finds the power and wildness that she seems convinced that she's missing otherwise.

A boom of thunder makes Chloe jump and Aubrey seems to snap back to herself, her eyes going soft again. They follow the instructions of the weather bulletin on the radio and seek shelter in their bathroom and Chloe momentarily hates living in an apartment instead of a house with a storm cellar or a basement or something more than a bathtub with a plastic shower curtain from Bed, Bath and Beyond. As the candlelight casts shadows against the corners of the bathroom, Chloe tucks herself against Aubrey's side and Aubrey strokes her hair and kisses her temple as the thunder rolls outside and the wind shakes the window panes. In the end, the life-threatening storm predicated on the radio turns out to be nothing more than a lot of noise and wind and a few uprooted bushes and some overturned patio furniture. The power clicks back on but they leave the lights off anyway, letting the candles burn down as they lay in bed.

The thunder and lightning have dissolved into a distant memory and the rain is now a gentle tapping on the windows, the type of weather that makes Chloe want to sleep all night and long into the morning. Aubrey is quieter now too, still and more herself, that distant look in her eyes gone. Yes, Aubrey loves storms. The noise, the wildness, the unpredictably, the fact that the air is electric and loud with the promise that anything can happen. But Chloe likes the rain and the quiet promise of a fresh start. She likes that one can often lead into the other, from quiet to loud and then back again. But most of all, she likes to lay here, just like this, tangled up in Aubrey with the sound of the rain beating against the windows.

**End**


End file.
